Sunday, 28 May 2017

I found a colony of these colourful birds, called Bee-eaters (Merops apiaster) at small river's bank in Bulgaria. They are very common around the whole country and small colonies can be found around most of the rivers, where they dig holes for their nests in the banks. The only problem with them is that they are very timid and don't leave people to get close.

From Wikipedia:
As the name suggests, bee-eaters predominantly eat insects, especially bees, wasps, and hornets. They catch insects in flight, in sorties from an open perch. Before eating a bee, the European bee-eater removes the sting by repeatedly hitting the insect on a hard surface. It can eat around 250 bees a day.

Monday, 8 May 2017

That is one very small monastery, which I found not very far from the town of Vratsa (Vraca) in Bulgaria. It's by far the smallest one I've ever seen and one of the most overlooked and unheeded. Its name means something like St John of the Desert (or may be the "abandoned" Monastery of St John) and the legend says that it's named after St John of Rila, who lived for some time in the small cave-like place near the building. Also the legends say that it was the l place of a Thracian sanctuary, which is more than likely considering the Bulgarian territory overlaps most of the old Thracian kingdoms. Some of the paintings were dated to be from XI century.

The way to the Monastery St Ivan Pusti, Bulgaria

The way to the Monastery St Ivan Pusti, Bulgaria

The way to the Monastery St Ivan Pusti, Bulgaria

Monastery St Ivan Pusti, Bulgaria

The bell of the Monastery St Ivan Pusti, Bulgaria

Monastery St Ivan Pusti, Bulgaria

Fountain in the yard of the Monastery St Ivan Pusti, Bulgaria

Fountain in the yard of the Monastery St Ivan Pusti, Bulgaria and the caretaker

Fountain in the yard of the Monastery St Ivan Pusti, Bulgaria

Entrance of the Monastery St Ivan Pusti, Bulgaria

Painting of St John of Rila above the entrance of the Monastery St Ivan Pusti, Bulgaria

Friday, 5 May 2017

Even though London is overcrowded city it its parks can be seen some pretty interesting birds. These many parks with their artificial lakes are like magnet for different species of waterfowl and some other animals. I like to spend time in them and observe these otherwise difficult and rare to see in the wild birds.

These for example are Barnacle Geese (Branta leucopsis), which is a species from the genus of the so called "black geese". Their range is from the North parts of the Atlantic (Greenland, Svalbard, Novaya Zemlya) during the breeding season down to Netherlands during the wintering.

There were very strange legends about that bird, which was believed to be essentially the same creature as the barnacle. This gave rise to the English name of the barnacle goose and the scientific name of the brant. It is sometimes claimed that the word comes from a Celtic word for "limpet", but the sense-history seems to go in the opposite direction. The barnacle myth can be dated back to at least the 12th century. Gerald of Wales claimed to have seen these birds hanging down from pieces of timber, William Turner accepted the theory, and John Gerard claimed to have seen the birds emerging from their shells. The legend persisted until the end of the 18th century. In County Kerry, until relatively recently, Catholics could eat this bird on a Friday because it counted as fish. In Judaism birds that grow on trees are not kosher.

Wednesday, 3 May 2017

This is one interesting monastery, founded in the second half of 14th century during the reign of the last Bulgarian kings, Ivan Shishman. When the country is finally conquered by the Turks, the monastery is destroyed, too. The name "Cherepishki" convey meaning as "Of Skulls" and the legend says that it came from the covered with white bones of the Ivan Shishman's fallen soldiers surrounding area.